Despite down seasons, Steinert, Hamilton do not lack storylines on Thanksgiving

HAMILTON — This is one of those years when the Steinert-Hamilton gametruly proves the traditional value of Thanksgiving football.

Rarely will so much fuss be made about two 2-7 teams playing their season finale.

But the alumni will still gather at their respective hangouts prior to the game, before descending upon Hamilton for a 10:30 a.m. kickoff. The students and faculty will flock through the gates, and the players will go at it like an undefeated championship season is on the line.

“There’s nothing like this football game — the atmosphere, the energy of the game,” Steinert head coach Dan Caruso said.

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“Even when we played in the state title game my first year here, the only game that everyone talked about was the Steinert Thanksgiving game,” Hornets head coach Tom Hoglen said.

With the cancellation of Lawrence-Hopewell because the two are playing in the Central Jersey Group III final, Steinert-Hamilton remains the big Turkey Day game in Mercer County.

Hamilton senior defensive back Tino Malave has played with and against Steinert players since his little league baseball days. Don’t tell him about 2-7.

“Winning this game would mean everything to me because it is a traditional game and it is always the biggest game of the year,” Malave said. “With spirit week going on now, I think the energy in the school is very high and the student body and my team are very pumped as always for this game.

“There is just something about West vs. Steinert — huge rivalry obviously.”

Steinert senior linebacker Pat Harchik also goes way back with Hamilton players. Don’t try to convince him the difference between 3-7 and 2-8 means nothing.

“This game is treated as a championship game, and it’s a big component of how I will remember my senior year,” Harchik said. “At this point in the year as a senior, this means everything. There’s nothing left to hold back, and that’s the mentality we need to bring to the game.”

This marks the 55th meeting between the schools. Hamilton leads the series, 33-20-1, and took last year’s game, 16-10, when Ruben Desane survived a grease fire scare at his house that morning to pick up MVP honors. After Hamilton reeled off a series-record seven-game winning streak, the teams have alternated victories during the past four years.

Steinert has struggled offensively this year but will try to get things going with running back Jarius Prather and quarterback Chris Scordo. The defensive challenge is be to stop Hamilton’s speed on the outside, and Steinert will counter with linebackers Harchik and Dave Higgins and linemen Jordan Kupec and Mike Remboski.

“On offense we need to execute on every single play and take care of the football,” Scordo said. “On defense we need to fly around, play nasty and be good tacklers in the open field.”

Running back Ian Williams, quarterback Kyle Bohn and receivers Tyleer Wrenn, Malik Snead and Thurman Leach have led West. It has a quick secondary, some stellar linebackers in Marcus Hall and sophomore Dakota Shelton and a tough lineman in Sha’an Johnson.

“Starting the game fast, getting on the board fast is important,” he said, “and special teams.”

An interesting sidebar to the battle is two of the assistant coaches. Steinert defensive coordinator Bob Ziegler and Hamilton first-year offensive coordinator Mike Costello have been close friends since childhood and were on the same side at Steinert the last several years.

The two now match wits against each other for the first time. Both admit it will be strange and interesting to try to out-think each other, especially since they already read each other’s thoughts.

“I have been coaching with that staff since I began coaching,” said Costello, who also played with Ziegler at Steinert. “I have also been coaching some of those players for three years and have a lot of great memories. I am sure that the name Benedict Arnold will be used somewhere down the line.”

Asked if it’s fair to now brand Costello a traitor, Ziegler made his buddy sound like a prophet.

“Yes, it is,” he said. “Even traitor Benedict Arnold would cringe at the site of Costello wearing the orange and black.”